The Indian Women’s Hockey team defeated China 2-0 to clinch the bronze medal at the Asia Cup, the Indian Eves are gearing up for the FIH Hockey Pro League as they will take on China again in their opening clash of the tournament.
India will play two matches against China on 31st January and 1st February in Muscat, Oman as they look to open their account in the tournament with positivity.
India Women’s Hockey team Chief Coach Janneke Schopman is quite confident to take on a strong Chinese side to begin the FIH Hockey Pro League
“We are excited to start our Pro League campaign and look to build on our performance in the Asia Cup by hopefully creating and converting our opportunities as well as having a clinical defence,” Schopman said.
“China has shown to be a good team here in the Asia Cup. While they did not finish in the top three, their game stats show that they were even to all top 3 teams,” she added.
Savita Punia who is India’s goalkeeper will continue to lead the Indian Eves in Rani Rampal’s absence. Savita feels that the team wants to build on their performances at the Asian Cup 2022.
“We not only managed to qualify for the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup Spain & Netherlands 2022 but also earned a podium finish. We are happy with how the team is shaping up and are looking forward to building upon the same in the upcoming matches,” Savita said.
She highlighted how this is a great opportunity for the players to get a first-hand experience against quality teams and also to implement the techniques that they have learned in training.
“It was a good tournament for us to not only get an understanding of our opponents, but also learn how the team reacts in certain situations on the field, and how we can replicate what we are learning in the training. We are eager to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League for the first time and continue to improve and gain confidence,” she added.
India hockey fans will get to watch the match live on tv on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports Select 2 HD. All the matches will be available to stream on Hotstar.
